Forrestfield plan takes shape
Planning has started for the urban centre around the new Forrestfield station - a 20 minute rail journey into the city.
The $2 billion Forrestfield-Airport Link will, for the first time, connect Perth's eastern suburbs to the rail network and the 250ha around the Forrestfield terminus would become a development hot spot with high-density residential and commercial projects as well as a new shopping centre.
A nearby light industrial area would also put the development on the radar of businesses wanting airport access and easy links to the Roe and Tonkin highways.
Expressions of interest to construct the rail link are being assessed and with a finish date scheduled for 2020, the Forrestfield station would be a big asset for the Shire of Kalamunda, which released a draft district structure plan setting out plans for development near the station.
Shire of Kalamunda chief executive Rhonda Hardy said the urban centre would be a catalyst for the development of the region with future employment, retail and housing opportunities.
"The vision for the area includes high-density residential and commercial developments including a new district retail centre," Ms Hardy said.
The now deferred MAX Light Rail left developers holding land with delayed development prospects. However, the Property Council said it understands the State Government is committed to the Forrestfield-Airport Link.
"All the information we have from government and our meetings with government is that it is committed to that particular project and has emphasised that it is an absolute commitment that will go ahead," Property Council chief Joe Lenzo said.
"There will be lifestyle residential-sized lots and there will be high-density nodes that fit in with the transport component.
"On our projections you could be looking at an extra 30,000 people for that land once it gets going."
The Forrestfield-Airport Link will spur east off the Midland line and, in a mostly underground route, will travel to three stations: Airport West, the Consolidated Airport station under the airport and finish at Forrestfield with trains surfacing at Dundas Road.
Property valuer Gavin Hegney said the station would be the catalyst to turn the 250ha around the Forrestfield station from a light industry/lifestyle precinct into a modern, higher-density suburb. That would benefit surrounding suburbs.
"It will be a bit like getting a Cockburn Central, a Rokeby Road or an Albany Highway, Victoria Park, as a neighbour so there will be a rub off in value," Mr Hegney said.
"If you look at what the area is worth before and after there will be quite a lift in value.
"Projects of this magnitude and scale only happen every 10 years in the Perth market, so it presents a unique opportunity for all surrounding residents."
The Forrestfield-Airport Link is due for completion in 2020.
The MAX Light Rail was set to run from Mirrabooka to a city junction before branching west to the medical precinct around QEII and east to Victoria Park.
The project was shelved in the December 2013 mid-year review and the Government has said it will make no decision about whether to proceed with MAX before the next election, due in March 2017.
